Journey of a Polish: Zoya Naturel Collection: Brigitte

Zoya (one of my favorite brands) has been having TONS of promos lately. If you don't already follow them on Facebook or Twitter (@ZoyaNailPolish) you really should. They always seem to be giving something away. This last week they were promoting designers for New York Fashion Week (they provide the polish) and their Naturel Collection. At the time, I only had access to Brigitte from the line. Brigitte is a lovely mauve tone. Depending on lighting or what it was next to, sometimes it seemed more purple and other times more berry toned. Due to this promo, I took pictures of my mani like EVERYDAY. Here is my journey with Brigitte...

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

 

With Flash

Without Flash

Monday

Tuesday

Those side chips on my thumb and middle finger are as bad as it got. I put this polish on bare (no base or top coat). I used two light coats for full coverage. Overall I was impressed with this polish. It also is nice that Zoya is 5 free (not as many harsh chemicals).

Happy Valentine's Day!

Here are two manicures I tried this week. Hope you enjoy and have a wonderful day!

Using: Zoya Pixie Dust shades in Miranda and Arabella

Base is using China Glaze White on White

Using: Zoya Special Edition Katherine Hill from the You Knew Me When Trio by Emily Liebert and Zoya Pixie Dust in Miranda. 

Black Outline was done using Milani Nail Art in Black Sketch

Killer Deal Alert!! Wet N Wild Balm Stains or Mega Rocks Polish $.50 each! (Exp. 2/15/2014)

So Walgreens is having a crazy sale on Wet N Wild Balm Stains or Mega Rocks Polish right now! Both items are on sale in their add 2/$3 (reg. $2.99 each!). On top of that the products themselves have $1 off each coupons on them. Your cost? $.50 each! Pretty much AMAZING!

I picked up 4 more Balm Stains, so now I have the whole set. 

Pictured:  Nudist Colony, Pinky Promise, A Stiff Pink, Rico Mauve, Red-dy or Not, & Lady and the Vamp

I will swatch them later after I get over my cold and my lips don't look like Chapped City.

I will also probably pick up at least 2 of the Mega Rocks. For $.50...you can't go wrong.

Want this deal? Get your booty over to Walgreens before closing Saturday!

Have a great day!

Does It Really Work?: Testing the One Cotton Ball Nail Polish Removal Technique

I first saw this technique here... on the GingerBreadManne Blog. I know this has been done before and GingerBreadManne does not claim to be the inventor of this technique. I still wanted to try it. I was interested in seeing if I really could get all of my nail polish off in 5 minutes with just one cotton ball. 

Tools you need: 1 Cotton Ball & Nail Polish Remover

I am using Studio 35 Beauty Nail Polish Remover which I bought from Walgreens...mainly because I wanted the pump. :)

Unroll your cotton ball. I played with mine a bit but it unraveled pretty easy.

Split your cotton ball strip down the middle.

Until you have two long pieces.

Rip apart into nail sized pieces. My cotton ball made 13. 10 for my nails and 3 for additional clean-up

Dip each piece in the nail polish remover. Just dampen. Soaking could lead to trails of nail polish remover down your arm.

I did one hand at a time like GingerBreadManne. You end up with your hand almost looking like an abominable snowman.

Wait for a few minutes (1-2), then use one of your extra cotton pieces to press down on your nail starting at the cuticle and moving toward the tip. Make sure to add some pressure when swiping the cotton off your finger. Most of the polish (if not all) should come off in the one swipe.

                             

Continue with the rest of your fingers...and your other hand and... VOILA! Nice clean nails.

Looks like this trial was a success. I think I will continue to use this technique in the future.

I may look for other tips and techniques to do for new posts. Possibly try some tutorials from Pinterest. Stay tuned for more trials.

If you have any suggestions for what I should try next, please leave a comment bellow.

First Attempt at a Gradient Manicure

Decided to try something different this week...a color gradient. First off, I have a million blue polishes. I seem to always grab them. So, I decided to do a subtle gradient using a few blues. 

For this look I used the following: 

Beauty Secrets (base and top coats), Sally Girl-Epic, Rimmel London-Apple Berry Smoothie, China Glaze-Frostbite & Spoiled-My Saturn Broke Down. 

I applied the polish for the gradient with a beauty sponge (wedge) after putting on my base coat and one coat of Sally Girl-Epic. I used Beauty Secrets Nail Matrix Cuticle Oil around my nails to minimize clean-up. 

Here is a photo of the final look with China Glaze-Frostbite.

Due to the use of multiple polishes, I will not do a follow up on this post. Have a wonderful weekend fellow nail polish addicts. 

Follow Up: China Glaze- Pelican Gray

Pelican Gray by China Glaze

I had some issues with this polish this week. I started noticing chipping by the beginning of the day, Day 3. The side of my right and thumb and a chip on my right hand middle finger bubbled underneath the polish. The polish from this point was easily able to peel off and leave a clean nail. Normally I would have left this for your viewing pleasure, but with a family funeral this week I didn't want my nails to look awful so I redid both fingers Tuesday morning. My Day 7 photo was of  my left hand which I didn't mess with all week.

As you can see I got quite a few chips through out the week. My pointer finger showed the most tip wear. That became noticeable around Day 4, starting by the beginning of Day 3. Chips occurred throughout the week. 

 Interestingly enough, the nails I repaired (with no base coat showed minimal to no wear after 3 1/2 days. I may try to find another base coat or try the next China Glaze without a base coat to see how it fares. 

Any suggestions on good base coats? I'd love to hear them. Please comment bellow.

China Glaze- Pelican Gray: Day 1

Wednesday my husband and I got some sad news when we found out his grandfather had passed away. Probably because of this I haven't felt like using my typical bright polishes for my manicure this week. 

Today I am opting to go with China Glaze's Pelican Gray. It is a light gray with  fine silver shimmer. I got this polish in an Ombre Collection from Sally Beauty Supply that I will show in a later post.

Application: This polish had a pretty smooth application. Was a little streaky on the first coat, but evened out completely after a second. Photos above are with two coats for complete coverage. 

Base coat: Beauty Secrets

Follow up will be next week. I also may add a gradient...